Re: Optimum number of symbols

En réponse à julien eychenne <eychenne.j@...>:

>
> >Hehe, you're really from the South :))) .
>
> Yes, I was born near Marseille, now I live near Toulouse ( where I'm
> studying). So try to imagine what my speaking english is like :(.
>
I won't even try ;))) . Funny enough, here in the laboratory where I work (near
The Hague in the Netherlands), I have a French colleague who happens to be from
Toulouse :)) . She stays here until next September :)) .

>
> So, you're really from the North :-P.
>
Yep, but not so much that I kept the distinction between /a/ and /A/. Like
nearly everybody else, I lost it (though it happened during my childhood, since
I remember distinctively that it was still around when I was in primary school
but had disappeared, even in my idiolect, when I arrived in Junior High :)) ).
In the very North of France, not only the distinction was kept, but it was even
strengthened by the rounding of the back vowel. They now have a /a/ vs. /Q/
distinction. IIRC it's the only part of France that kept this distinction.

>
> You're absolutely right. But I assume that French could be easier by
> representing each sound by a single grapheme, based on standard
> pronouncing.
>
I agree with you in this case. The problem would be to find a good compromise
(you know how bad are French people with compromises :))) ), and I am myself
too enamored with the etymological orthography of French to want to change
anything :))) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.